The 12 Days of Christmas - The Great Holiday Mystery

The Fifth Day of Christmas

~Athena Cabin~

Annabeth frowned at the paper

'Come on, Annabeth,' Hazel complained. 'You can't lock yourself up here. You need to get out.'

The daughter of Athena shook her head, 'I can't do that. Until we have the next clue, I'm doing whatever it takes to find out whose behind this.'

Hazel rolled her eyes, 'Do I really need to get Piper to charmspeak you out of your cabin?'

Annabeth ignored her and continued writing notes. Hazel sighed and left the cabin. Annabeth looked over her shoulder at the girl exiting her cabin and bit her lip. She was probably serious about getting Piper. Turning back to her cluttered desk, Annabeth decided to make the most of the time she still had left in cabin 6.

Five minutes later, Hazel rushed back through the door, a look of worry etched on her pale face.

'Couldn't find her?' Annabeth asked with a sideways smile, temporarily forgetting about the disappearances.

'No,' Hazel said earnestly. 'Piper's disappeared.'

~Outside the Aphrodite Cabin~

'Great,' Leo said. 'That's our charmspeaker gone.'

Annabeth shook her head, 'Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's run a list of everyone who's disappeared.'

'Frank was the first,' Hazel said with a sniff. 'Then Reyna, then Jason.'

'Then Connor,' Travis put in miserably.

'That leaves us with,' Thalia counted off on her fingers. 'Annabeth, Nico, Hazel, Travis, Leo, myself ... and Percy.'

'Wait,' the demigods looked around wildly. 'Where is Percy?'

'Percy!' Annabeth cried desperately. 'Percy! Oh gods. Percy, where are you? This isn't funny!'

'Oh, the stupid Kelp Head,' Thalia muttered. 'What's he done now?'

'Percy!' Annabeth began to get hysterical. 'Not again! Please, Seaweed Brain!'

'Hey, what's all the shouting for?' Percy asked, coming out of the woods. He held Riptide in one hand and a crumpled piece of paper in the other.

'I come back from a walk and-oomph!'

Percy's sentence was cut short as Annabeth tackled him in a hug. Then proceeded to judo flip him over her shoulder. Oh well, you have to keep up traditions.

'Don't ever do that to me again?' Annabeth commanded hotly.

Percy's eyes were wide, 'I promise. I'm sorry.'

Annabeth's anger seemed to melt away as she bent down and kissed him. They stayed like that for a while until Thalia called, 'Let's keep this PG, lovebirds. We have young eyes here!'

Hazel frowned, 'I am fourteen.'

Thalia waved it away, 'And I technically should be around 25 or something.'

Percy rolled his eyes and put his arm around Annabeth who leaned into his embrace, 'If we can get past that, I found the next note. It was just sitting by the creek as if someone knew I was coming.'

Annabeth shivered, 'Creepy.'

'Well, what does it say?' Leo asked.

Percy unfurled the note, 'It says, "On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, five wooden sleighs, four working craftsmen. three volar reindeer, two wrapped up presents, and mistletoe up a pine tree."'